Yankees: Jim Leyritz answers some questions about the ’96 team and his career

MG:
You mentioned Mariano Rivera, and what an amazing pitcher he became. He has just been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. What were your thoughts when you first saw him? You were in the Bronx during his rookie season- what were your thoughts of him when he first came up?
JL:
Well, you have to remember that when he came up early in 1995, he was a starter and he was horrible. He had two pitches, which again, I know that it sounds funny now because he really only had one, but at that time he was a starter with two pitches. His fastball was good, but his slider was terrible. Someone somewhere must have told him that he threw a good slider because he wanted to throw it all the time, and I can tell you as a starter how many times I begged him not to throw that pitch. He was sent down in ’95, and when he came back up, all of a sudden he had this devastating cutter.

MG:
Mariano Rivera only one of the star players that came up while you were with the Yankees; there was a young shortstop who also made it to the Bigs during your tenure with the Yankees. His name was Derek Jeter. What did you think of him when he came up?
JL:
Well, the interesting thing with that is in 1996 if Tony Fernandez doesn’t break his hand, Derek Jeter doesn’t start in the big leagues. I always joke that when they did something for Derek Jeter retirement, Tony Fernandez should have been the first person they were inviting because if he doesn’t get hurt there and doesn’t start the season, the course of history is changed dramatically.

I met Derek in the offseason of ’95 going into ’96. We both lived in Tampa and we were working out at the complex together. I just remember looking at him and watching him throw 150, 200 baseballs and taking 300, 400 swings in January. I kept trying to tell him, “Hey kid, listen, this is your first big league camp. You’ll get plenty of time to get into shape, don’t start trying to do it in January”, but he’d just refuse. He would say, “This is what I do, this is how I work out, and I’m going to continue to do that.” It was pretty impressive for such a young kid to be so disciplined.

MG:
You were on both sides of the greatest rivalry in American sports as you played for both the Yankees and the Red Sox.
JL:
Yes sir.
MG:
What is so special about that rivalry?
JL:
The passion and loyalty that the Yankee fans and Red Sox fans have, I have seen nowhere else and I played on six different teams. When I got traded to Anaheim, I didn’t feel that same passion there, and when I got traded back to the Red Sox, I was so excited to get back to fans, even though it wasn’t Yankee fans, to get back to the east coast fans that had a true passion for the game, and that’s why most people say, “Oh, you probably didn’t enjoy your time in Boston”, and I’m like, to be honest with you, I really did. But unfortunately I had some issues with their pitching coach who wanted to call every single pitch like a college kid and I refused to do it, so I ended up getting traded halfway through that season.

MG:
You have faced your share of elite pitchers. Who was the toughest pitcher you had to face?
JL:
Randy Johnson in his hay day. He was the toughest from the left side, and Pedro Martinez from the right.